Menthol Smokers Feel Addicted

A new survey uncovers the perceptions and habits of menthol smokers, showing most feel “twice addicted” - both to the menthol and to the tobacco - and demonstrates that most menthol Kiss smokers are in fact attracted by the taste and feel of menthol cigarettes. The survey was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.

The survey shows almost three-quarters (74 percent) of menthol smokers believe that menthol makes it easier for them to inhale, while almost 40 percent say that menthol flavoring is the only reason they smoke.

Additionally, following an FDA Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee report regarding the public health impact of menthol cigarettes, four out of five menthol smokers (82 percent) surveyed say they are likely to try quitting if the FDA were to ban menthol cigarettes.

“Almost all menthol smokers in the survey reported they want to quit, but were less likely to have tried quitting than regular smokers. They are also less likely to have tried using treatment,” said Cedric Bright*, M.D., president-elect of the National Medical Association and associate professor of medicine in the Departments of Medicine and Community & Family Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. “With the high interest in quitting among these smokers, more needs to be done to educate smokers about accessible resources, such as counseling and nicotine replacement therapy, which are proven methods for improving success rates.”

It is also known that African Americans disproportionately smoke menthols over any other group. According to data from the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 82 percent of African Americans choose menthol cigarettes, versus just one-quarter of adult smokers of other races.

The survey shows that approximately one-quarter of African-American menthol respondents have not tried treatment such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) because they don’t know enough about it, or they think they can quit cold turkey or without treatment. In reality, smokers who try to quit cold turkey result in less than a five percent chance at success. Using counseling, along with treatment such as NRT, can double a smoker’s chances of successfully quitting.

NRT products have helped millions of people around the world quit smoking and, as a result, have significantly reduced their exposure to the risks of cancer and other smoking-related diseases. They are recommended as first-line treatments for smoking addiction in the U.S. and can reliably increase long-term smoking abstinence rates.